


Timelines

by Kyntha



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: Birth, Character Death Fix, Children of Earth Fix-It, Fix-It, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jack Harkness is the Face of Boe, Other, Second Chances, Shoplifting, Timelines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 13:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4103209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyntha/pseuds/Kyntha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and his companions keep a promise to the Face of Boe.<br/>Connected to my story 'Tis Eventide, but can stand alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to work the first chapter in to 'Tis Eventide, but it was like pounding a round peg into a square hole. So here it is as a stand alone piece instead.
> 
> Finished and posted just under 12 hours before Series 9 trailer was released.
> 
> Spoilers for Children of the Earth, Torchwood "Fragments," Doctor Who "Blink," "The Journey's End," "The Last Astronaut," "The Doctor's Wife," the River Song story arc, especially "Good Man Goes to War," and "The Wedding of River Song," and "Last Christmas." Mostly cannon compliant. Ignores Torchwood "Cyberwoman."

“Well would you look at that.” The Doctor mused. He studied a file on his screen.

“What is it, Doctor?” Martha asked.

“You know that boy I told you The Face of Boe asked me to look after? Ianto Jones?”

“Yes, what about him.”

“Look at his file.” He turned the monitor to Martha.

“You have a file on people?”

“Well...”

She sighed and looked at the screen. “Looks like a nice boy. Except for this shoplifting thing.”

“Yes, but look at his timeline.” The Doctor pointed to a heavy red line at the bottom of the screen.

“Timelines are blue. Red blips are fixed points in their time. Things that cannot be rewritten.” He pulled up Winston Churchill’s timeline. “Look. See, his birth is red. But much of his life is blue. Most things he does could be done differently and still get him to the same point. Now this bit of red, that’s his election as Prime Minister. And this is World War II.”

Martha nodded.

“But this boy...this seemingly unremarkable boy’s timeline is almost completely red. He breaks his leg here. It’s fixed, just as his shoplifting charge. And look here. He worked for Torchwood One...was one of the few survivors of Canary Wharf, actually.”

The Doctor and Martha both paused momentarily at that, both lost in their own thoughts.

“Anyway, then he goes to work with Torchwood Three here, still a fixed point.” The Doctor poked the screen.

“Surely there are other people whose lives are completely fixed.” Martha said.

“Oh, yes. Most of the Kennedy's. Many of the British monarchy. Oddly enough, van Gogh.”

“But look. This is the most unusual thing about this boy’s timeline. Look at this dot at the end.”

“It’s blue!” Martha exclaimed.

“Yes.” The Doctor noted. “His whole life is fixed, until the very end. His death is not. It could be rewritten.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Right, then.” The Doctor exclaimed as he settled in the TARDIS and flung his coat over an arm of coral. “We have a boy to look in on.” He and Martha had been trapped in 1969 for several months, waiting for the right person to help them recover the TARDIS and send it to them.

“A boy?” Martha questioned. “Doctor, I’ve been trapped in a very uncomfortable moment in human history for a person of my race and forced to work in a shop for months. Do you know how I was treated in the shop...in 1969? I want a cuppa, a long hot bath, and a good sleep. A boy can wait.”

“Even young Ianto Jones? We did promise the Face of Boe we’d look after him.”

Even Martha could not say no to that. “Could I at least have a proper bath first?” she sighed.

“So when should we look in on him first?” The Doctor questioned when Martha emerged from her room 20 minutes later. “Birth?” Martha shook her head. “Oh, here’s one. When he broke his leg.” Another head shake. “Mmmm...he caught a pterodactyl once.”

“Interesting. But no.” Martha studied Ianto’s file on the screen. They both avoided mentioning Torchwood One. “How about here? His shoplifting charge.”

The point set, the TARDIS went spinning off the back alley in New York City 1969 to a street on the posher side of Cardiff, Whales 1998. “Remember, his timeline is fixed,” the Doctor spoke as the TARDIS settled with a small bump. “We’re only observing. No interfering!”

They wandered down the street casually peering into shops as they walked. In the tailor’s shop, a neat, but tired looking man helped a customer with a suit that looked much more expensive than the tailor could ever afford for himself. Next was a high end dress shop Martha remarked her mother would have preferred. A jewelry store. A cafe with sidewalk seating the Doctor mentioned he’d eaten at once before. Martha assumed with Rose based on the momentary wistful look on his face. At the end of the street was a druggist where an argument was erupting. Martha adjusted her stride, anticipating the inevitable quickening pace.

A teenager, about 16 stood attempting to break free from the grasp of an older man in a lab coat, presumably the druggist. “I don’t care who you are, this is the last time I’m having any of your stealing, boy!”

“But my father is more ill than he lets on. He needs something to help him with the pain!” a young Ianto Jones exclaimed.

“Then he can come here and pay for his drugs like the rest of the neighborhood. You damned estate filth think you can get away with something just because your father works in a shop here!” At that moment a policeman walked up the street. “Ah, now we’ll see some justice!” The druggist shook Ianto.

As the scene unfolded, the policeman and the druggist forcibly emptied the teen’s pockets, finding several bottles of medicines. “That appears to be percocet or similar,” Martha whispered from their vantage point tucked under the awning of a nearby shop. “He must be very clever to have nicked that from behind the counter.”

A phone call was made. Ianto was hauled back inside the druggist’s. The tailor from the other end of the street soon came running up the walk, tape measure flapping behind him. And shortly after a car arrived to take young and now handcuffed Ianto Jones to the station. The tailor watched on, anger still showing on his lined face.

“We should go.” The Doctor whispered. “We know he’s charged, but he will be alright.”

“Do you think he truthfully stole the percocet for his dad?” Martha asked softly as they walked back to the TARDIS.

The Doctor shrugged. “Only time will tell, I suppose.”


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor eyed Donna cautiously. She was idly flipping switches on the control panel planning their next trip without consulting him. But of course, now she was part him. He supposed there might be an ongoing conversation in her head that he was paradoxically part of and not part of. Much like he was now with Rose walking away from Bad Wolf Bay, but also still on the TARDIS, having lost her again.

He knew the part of him inside Donna would soon overwhelm her. He should wipe her memory now before she was in pain. Before she understood she could never be “the Doctor Donna.” But seeing Jack and his companions in the Torchwood Hub, seeing the present day Ianto and fully understanding Jack and Ianto were meant to be together, forced him to acknowledge he had not fulfilled his promise to an old friend. He had only checked in on Ianto once to witness his shoplifting incident. It was time look into Ianto’s life again.

“Donna,” he began. “Set the old girl to Cardiff 1991.”

She typed the instructions into a control panel as easily as he could. “What’s in 1991 Cardiff?”

“Remember the boy I promised I’d look after?” the Doctor said.

Her eyes grew wide, as if suddenly connecting the dots. “Oh, the young man at Torchwood!”

They landed with a comforting wheeze of the craft. Donna peered out the TARDIS door. “Looks like 1991 to me.”

She grabbed up a jacket, patted her pockets, and exclaimed, “Come on, spaceman! Don’t just stand there!” The Doctor picked up his own coat and smiled sadly. He would miss her sass no matter how much he fought against it.

"Alrighty, then. Ianto would be about 8." The Doctor looked around the estate where they landed. "Look for a boy with dark hair and eyes. He may be alone."

The Doctor watched Donna during the walk. She was chattering on so fast about places to go and people to meet, he could barely understand her. He hoped it wouldn't be a mistake to bring her along, Donna was always rooting for the underdog. Standing up to him and anyone else to save the weak or downtrodden. He thought she would have liked knowing their last trip together was simply to look after a boy who would never make it to the history books.

"Doctor," Donna breathed, catching his sleeve. A small for his age dark haired boy walked down the estate road holding a man's hand. The boy limped slightly. The Doctor recognized him immediately as the tired tailor who watched a teenage Ianto being led away in handcuffs. The two were chatting easily. Laughing at private joke.

"Thanks for taking me to see Star Trek, Dad." eight year old Ianto said.

His dad tousled his hair and looked down in the boy with the love only a father can show. "Just don't tell your mum. She doesn't think you're quite old enough for that kind of thing yet."

The boy beemed. "No, sir!"

Donna smiled. "He has a great dad. Mine let me get away with things Mum wouldn't approve of either."

Back in the TARDIS, it was apparent quickly Donna's brain couldn't sustain both her mind and the Doctor's any longer.

"I'm so so sorry," the Doctor whispered, placing his hands on her head.

The Doctor vaguely remembered setting a reminder to check on Ianto again soon. He might have to travel alone, but he could insure Jack wouldn't have to.


	4. Chapter 4

“Doctor? What’s this reminder that popped up? ‘Check on Ianto Jones.’” Amy called down from the console screen. The Doctor was under the console soldering wires. 

“Mmm...just a boy the last me said I’d look in on. But his timeline is fixed. There’s nothing I can do to change the outcome of his life.” He called back up distracted. “Just hit ‘remind later’ on the console.”

“Timeline?” Amy questioned. So the Doctor explained timelines to Amy while he continued his electrical work.

He was new and different and had recently said good-bye to so many people. He wasn’t ready to return to Whales or especially not London.

*****

“Doctor,” Amy began. She, Rory, and the Doctor were cooking fish fingers and custard in the galley several months later when a small monitor near the door blipped. “This reminder thing popped up again.”

“To check on Ianto Jones?” he mumbled with a mouthful of too hot fish fingers. When Amy nodded he fanned his mouth and waved her off. “He’s fine.”

*****

“Doctor?” Rory and Amy had been swimming in the pool and were now standing in the console room dripping water on the floor. “Your reminder popped up again on the screen in the library. To check on Ianto.”

“Stop dripping water!” He exclaimed impatiently. “Do you want to short out all the securities I just put into place to protect us from beings like House?”

*****

“Doctor.” Rory said peering at the main screen on the console. “There’s a new reminder. ‘Overdue. Check on Ianto Jones. Overdue.”

The Doctor sighed. He’d been thinking about Ianto after spending months in 1969, and rescuing a mysterious little girl in a space suit, and fighting the Silence, and meeting River Song (and kissing River Song!), and pondering why Amy was pregnant and not pregnant all at the same time, and knowing he would die (yes, he knew about the dying), and cowboy hats, and moon landings. Yes, he knew it was time to keep that promise to The Face of Boe again. He saw his own mortality and knew if he didn’t check in on Ianto now, he may not make another opportunity. He sighed again. “Always after a long trip to 1969, eh?”

“Rory, click the “Reschedule reminder” button.” The Doctor adjusted the controls. We’ve got to time this one carefully, Ponds. I don’t want to undershoot it and cross my own timestream.”

“Doctor?”

“Time to check on Mr. Jones, I believe.” He said, spinning around the console. “London, July 2007. I was here once before, so I need to time this a few days later.”

Rory rolled his eyes. Timing was not one of the Doctor’s strong points. “Now listen, whatever you hear or see, we must not interfere. Ianto Jones' timeline is fixed.”

Nevertheless the TARDIS landed a few blocks from the Torchwood One Tower. The neighborhood was in shambles. Houses and shops burned. Windows broken. Cars and lorries overturned. A few people staggered down the street in a daze. The trio picked their way through rubble until they finally came across a young dark haired man sitting on a dirty, but otherwise unharmed bench near a small city park. Dust, sweat and tears streaked his face. His clothing was torn and filthy.

Amy started toward him. “Amy, no!” The Doctor whispered hoarsely, but Amy shook him off. She sat beside Ianto Jones and took his hand, hanging limply at his side in hers. He turned to look at who had touched him. She smiled gently but didn’t speak. They sat for several minutes, Amy merely stroking his hand, before Ianto roused himself and stood. “Thank you.” Ianto walk in the opposite direction of Torchwood Tower, head still bowed but with somewhat of determined look on his face.


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor and River had been wandering the universe aimlessly for a few weeks now. Both were mourning the loss of Amy and Rory while River worked on her book that would serve as a warning to them all.

“River,” the Doctor began one day. He stood at the console studying a file on the main monitor. “Would you like to go drop in on a baby?"

"A baby? Now, that's a new one." River looked up from her writing. "You don't mean me, I hope."

"No." The Doctor playfully bopped her on the nose with his index finger. The thought of a destination was improving his mood already. Why had they drifted this long? "Not you, darling. Although you were a beautiful little thing. No, no, I have a promise to keep to an old friend."

"Ah, yes. You gave me the word for 'mum.' River smiled, "Shall I drive, Sweetie?"

"So long as you leave the park brake on. I like the noise. It's sexy." River rolled her eyes, but secretly grinned at his foolishness. "To Cardiff, August 20, 1983"

"Well that's precise for you."

"If we miss it by a day or two, we'll be okay. Young Ianto Jones should be 24 hours old when we see him."

“And what’s so special about this baby?”

“See, that’s the thing. Nothing. This baby is unremarkable in every way imaginable. I’ve seen him at 8 and 16 and 24 and he’s just unremarkable and ordinary. The only thing that seems to make him even the slightest bit important is he worked with Torchwood One and later Torchwood Three.” The Doctor spun through the TARDIS, as was often his habit while offering explanations. “The only thing that makes him remotely interesting is he apparently had a relationship with our friend Captain Jack Harkness, and The Face of Boe asked me in practically his dying breath to check on him from time to time.” He paused, enjoying a quiet moment to reflect on Jack, who was after all, one of the people he had loved deeply in his long life. “Ah, but I suppose we are all important then, aren’t we, River?”

The TARDIS landed (with the parking brake on, as requested) in a broom closet in the lesser hospital of Cardiff. “Now listen, River. No meddling. We’re here to check on this baby and that’s it.” They walked down the hall with purpose and found the maternity ward easily enough.

Near the window of the nursery stood a man looking in much need of a good night’s sleep smiling in the window at the row of babies. “Which one is yours?” River spoke to the man quietly, much to the Doctor’s chagrin.

“River!” He whispered!

The young tailor pointed to the baby on the end with a full head of dark hair and dark serious looking eyes. “He’s quite remarkable!” River complimented, glaring at the Doctor. “What’s his name?”

The Doctor sighed audibly. He should have known better than to invite his wife along for this trip. She could never keep to herself.

“We can’t quite decide between Gareth or Ianto.”

“Oh, I have no doubt this baby will go on to be quite important, Mr. Jones. He should be named both. Ianto Gareth. A reminder to be gracious and gentle in his leadership.” River had hooked her arm around Ianto’s father’s as they chatted. 

“River!” The Doctor warned again.

“Hush, Doctor!” River responded with a glint in her eye. “We’ll finish our rounds when I’m done chatting with Mr. Jones.”

“We’re simple, unimportant estate people. How could any son of mine be remarkable?” Mr. Jones questioned.

“A great man once said he never met anyone who wasn’t important.” River smiled sweetly at the new father. “Now you be sure you take him to see all the alien type movies. Boys love that. Star Wars, Star Trek, ET, Contact....”

The Doctor cleared his throat and gave a small shake of his head.

River corrected herself “Sorry, spoilers... And make sure you push him high on the swings. He’ll get into a spot of trouble when he’s older, but don't you worry, Mr. Jones. I have a feeling this one will do it in a misguided attempt to do good. I think he'll always have a strong desire to be a part of something bigger than he is. He'll be brave, passionate, loyal, and smarter than anyone gives him credit for.” River heard her husband groan. “The Doctor and I must be off, now. Go back to your wife’s room, tell her how much you love her, and get some rest. This may be the last chance you get for quite a while.”

“RIVER!” The Doctor thundered when they returned to the TARDIS. “You....” He waved a finger in her face. “You fixed his timeline! It was you all along!”

“Posh, Doctor. I merely fixed the first 26 years of his life. It’s up to you to see to what happens after.” She tutted.

“River Song, you are going to be the death of me.” He declared, flipping a switch and sending the TARDIS into the time vortex.

“Oh, Sweetie, we both know you’ve proved that wrong." She brushed a kiss against his brow.


	6. Chapter 6

“Well look at you, happy. That’s rare.”

“You know what’s rarer? Second chances. I never get second chances, so what happened this time? I don’t even know who to thank.”

No sooner than the words escaped the Doctor’s lips than the console monitor flashed bright and an alarm sounded. “Save Ianto Jones. Save Ianto Jones. Save Ianto Jones. Save Ianto Jones.”

“Alright, Jack. I suppose it’s time for your second chance too.”

“Who’s Ianto Jones...And Jack who? You mean your Jack?”

“Oh, you’re missing out on a treat having never met Captain Jack Harkness!” The Doctor exclaimed. (And was that a glint of wistfulness in his eye?) “Ianto Jones, on the other hand, is the most remarkable boy. He succeeded in capturing Jack’s heart. And they...” he pointed to an image on the screen of the two men standing together on the waterfront outside the Tourist Office. “they had much too short a time together.”

The Doctor rushed to a nearby chalkboard and began scribbling notes and calculations, part in Gallifreyan, part in English. Clara followed direction as he called to her over his shoulder from time to time to enter in a calibration, pull up a file, or bring him a book. “That should do it!” He declared after a half hour or so. “We just need to make sure we have the vaccine in stock.” Then turning to Clara, muttered. “Oh.”

“Oh? Oh, what?”

“Your human!”

“Yup. Have been all my life.”

“No, Clara. You don’t understand. This virus will kill humans in seconds. Beings with double circulatory systems are immune. But humans are exceedingly susceptible to this virus.” He turned to his board again and wrote “Need gasmask for Clara.”

“For this plan to work, Clara, we must work quickly and you...” he eyed her, “You must do exactly as you’re told.”

They set to work gathering supplies and reprogramming the locations of rooms so the medical bay was located between the front door of the TARDIS and the console room. “I want to be able to walk directly into the med bay.” The Doctor explained. He showed her the vaccine. “As soon as I get coffee-boy back to the TARDIS, you must inject this into his thigh. Don’t worry about pants or any silly thing like that.”

She nodded. “Now listen, Clara. This is very important. This is the most important thing. You must wear your gasmask until we’ve vented the air and you must not, under any circumstances leave the TARDIS.”

Clara nodded again and donned her gasmask. “Are you my mummy?” she quipped

“Clara!” the Doctor thundered, his Scottish temper flaring. “I’m serious.”

“Gasmask on, stay in the TARDIS, injection in the thigh immediately. Got it.” Clara stated.

“His thigh. Not mine!” 

“Injection in Ianto’s thigh.” Clara repeated. 

The TARDIS navigation was set to take them directly London, September 2009 to the precise moment the 456 released the virus in Thames House. Clara waited impatiently and anxiously in the TARDIS parked in an empty room while the Doctor walked the now deserted hall to the chamber room. He knew he had mere seconds after Jack collapsed to grab Ianto’s body and run back to the TARDIS, and so he stood silently in the doorway of the chamber room watching Ianto and Jack say their last goodbye. “Jack, you fool,” he thought to himself as Ianto’s body stilled. Once he gathered Ianto into his arms, he paused only for a second to murmur to the body on the floor “Sorry, old friend.”

“Now, Clara!” the Doctor shouted as he burst through the TARDIS door directly into the med bay. “Inject him now! Don’t miss!” Clara moved swiftly to Ianto’s side and plunged the syringe into his leg.

“Wait. What about Jack?” she asked as the Doctor placed Ianto on the exam table and began stripping off his suit and checking signs of life.”  
“Jack has to stay behind. He has work to do.”

“We can’t just leave him behind, Doctor! What’s the use of a second chance if you don’t save them both.”

“Clara, I don’t have time to explain right now. You’ll have to trust me. Jack isn’t dead and he still has work to do before he can leave Earth.” the Doctor was feeding an oxygen tube around Ianto’s head. “Now go vent the air in the TARDIS. Blue button on the console.”

Ianto woke the next day to a warm, tidy room. Clara and the Doctor had been taking turns keeping watch by his bedside, the Doctor hovering uncharacteristically. Occasionally they would sit together while they monitored the young man so that the Doctor could catch her up on the invasion of the 456 and about checking in on Ianto all his life. It was Clara, though, who was sitting beside Ianto’s bed, reading a book she’d found in the library, when he awoke. “Oh, hello!” she said brightly when he blinked and looked around. “I’m Clara.”

“Wh..what?”

“It’s okay. I’ll start at the beginning. You’re in the TARDIS. The Doctor rescued you from Thames House.”

“The TARDIS? The Doctor?” Ianto asked, surprised.

“Oh dear. I thought you knew all about the Doctor.” Clara fretted.

“Know about, yes. Met, no. What about Jack? Where’s Jack?”

“Just relax, Ianto. It’s a long story.” The spoke for hours.


	7. Chapter 7

“Okay, Ianto. Are you ready?” Clara straightened his tie on the new suit they had purchased together just for the occasion. Ianto had spend weeks on the TARDIS recovering from any ill effects of the virus. He and Clara had grown close, and he had even grown to appreciate the Doctor, who he now considered something of a guardian angel.

“You’re on your own, now, Ianto.” The Doctor said in his typical brusque manner. “I won’t be around any more to be looking in on you. So no more shoplifting. And for goodness sake, when someone tells you to stay behind, do as you’re told.”

Ianto smiled slightly. “Yes, sir.”

The Doctor moved to the console. “Now then, you two understand, I’m crossing my timestream to do this. I cannot leave the TARDIS or risk bumping into myself. Clara, you know who you’re looking for?”

“Doctor, I have met every one of your regenerations. I know exactly who I’m looking for.” She sighed.

“Ianto, you know who you’re looking for?” There might have been a hint of a tease beneath his gruffness. “Tell ol’ Captain Jack...Tell him I kept my promise.” He turned away momentarily. “Clara, you have the note?”

“Yup. Right here.” She patted her pocket.

Clara and Ianto guided each other through the streets and back alleys of a strange city on a strange planet. Clara had gotten used to such things. Ianto was overwhelmed. “Don’t worry, Ianto. The Doctor has been here before. He wouldn’t send us out alone if it were dangerous.” 

They arrived at the bar shortly before the younger Doctor and waited by the door. “Tell me again why we waited until now to find Jack?” Ianto questioned, his voice tight with nerves.

“Jack’s timeline was fixed between your death and now. We couldn’t change what happened to him during that time.” Clara spoke softly. They could just catch glimpses of Jack sitting at the far side of the bar when the crowd parted. “I see the Doctor walking up the street. Just there, see?” Ianto nodded. “Now you slip in the bar and work your way around to Jack. Don’t sit down until the note is delivered. The Doctor needs this as much as you and Jack do.”

Ianto nodded again and mumbled a thank you into Clara’s hair as she gave him a hug. “I’ll miss you too, Ianto Jones. Now go.”

“Doctor,” she walked up to the younger version of the man she was traveling with. The last time she saw him he had helped end the Time War, but she didn’t expect him to remember.

“Do I know you?” he gasped. The radiation poisoning was beginning to drain him.

“It’s not important.” She said. “Just listen. You don’t have much time and neither do I. I know why you’re here. Do it properly and deliver this note to him.” She pressed a note into his hand.

The Doctor stood on the far side of the bar watching his note being delivered to his old friend. Jack spotted the Doctor in the crowd and they smiled at each other before Jack unfolded the paper. The young Welshman sat down just in time for Jack to read, “His name is Ianto.”


End file.
